That January 1
by Vol lady
Summary: Follows His Last Secret and relates back to Off to Placerville. Nick met Nancy because Sh. Madden had sent him on an awful errand that Nick couldn't say no to, because the sheriff held something over him from the previous Jan 1. Nick never told me what Sh. Madden had on him, but I overheard when he confessed to the women in his life. Here it is.
1. Chapter 1

That January 1

Chapter 1

January 1, 1882

Nick rolled over in bed and kissed his wife on the back of her neck. Then he snuggled up against her and sighed a happy, warm sigh.

Nancy woke up when he kissed her, and she smiled. "What is this about?" she asked quietly.

"What do you mean? I just kissed you," Nick said.

"That was no ordinary kiss. You're remembering something."

Nick smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Nancy waiting, but Nick did not go on. "Well, are you going to tell me about it?"

Nick sighed again. "Two years ago – well, come February two years ago, but on this day – New Year's – well, let's just say it all went into motion on January 1, two years ago."

"What went into motion?"

"Me, dragging that crazy prisoner up to Placerville – that guy who wouldn't shut up for love nor money."

Nancy laughed. "I remember him."

"If I hadn't had to take him to Placerville, we'd never have come to your house in the snowstorm. I'd never have met you. We wouldn't be married, we wouldn't be having our baby – none of this would have happened if I hadn't – " Nick stopped.

"If you hadn't what?" Nancy asked.

Nick rolled onto his back. "I think I might be talking myself into a trap here."

Now Nancy laughed and rolled over onto her other side to face him. "Trap? What kind of trap?"

"I think I'm gonna have to tell you what I did on January 1 two years ago that got me sent on that trip to Placerville."

"And you don't want to?"

"Not really."

"Why? Is it that bad?"

"It's – embarrassing, especially in mixed company."

"Well, then, don't tell me," Nancy said very flippantly.

"You're not mad if I don't?"

"Well, we do tell each other everything, but if this is something you don't want to tell me…."

Now Nick really felt trapped. Nancy had maneuvered him right into the corner he had aimed himself at, and she did it so expertly he could have kicked himself. "It's – uh – well, I'd like to tell you but like I said, it's embarrassing in mixed company."

"Not good for pillow talk? Will I still want to be married to you if you tell me?"

"I hope so. I think you will. The whole thing is just – embarrassing. Even my family never knew about it, except Heath, and I told him I'd tell on him if he told on me."

Nancy laughed again. "You make it sound like you were two ten year olds getting into trouble."

"Kinda like that – but maybe more like two twenty year olds getting into trouble."

"Nick Barkley," Nancy said flatly, "either tell me or let it go. Don't keep tantalizing me with these hints."

"All right," Nick said. "It really started on New Year's Eve, end of 1879. Some things had happened at the end of 1879, a crazy mixture of wonderful and dreadful. Audra had become engaged to Carl Wheeler, but then she was attacked and her recovery was okay but it was slow. Jarrod was living in San Francisco but he came home for the Christmas holiday. It was then his heart condition got so bad that he told the family about it, but it was also then he told us about Maggie and of course, he married her a few months later.

"When New Year's rolled around, Jarrod had gone back to San Francisco, Audra was improving steadily, and things were settling down for everybody. That was probably the reason Heath and I decided to cut loose a bit on New Year's Eve. We went to town together, started out at Harry's bar, liquor and gambling and too much of both. I remember laughing a lot and carousing with the saloon girls too much, but then I blacked out, and the next thing I knew, it was just after sunup on January 1, 1880, the start of a new decade, and I was starting it out – "

"Nick!" A pounding at the door interrupted Nick's story. "Nick! Get up!"

It was Heath.

"What the heck is he doing here at this hour?" Nick asked and then he yelled, "Whattaya want?!"

Nancy felt it right in her ear.

"We got trouble!" Heath yelled. "That prize stallion Duke got up in Placerville broke out over night! Get up!"

Nick moaned all over the place but scrambled into his clothes and his boots, gave Nancy a quick peck, and dashed out the door. Nancy just lay there for a moment, upset about the horse but almost as frustrated as Nick's story being interrupted. After a few deep breaths, she climbed out of bed and started getting herself together for the day.

When she got down to breakfast, the men were gone and only Victoria was there, just beginning her day. "Good morning," Nancy said.

"Not so far," Victoria said.

"So I heard. How did Heath get here so early?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure how it came about," Victoria said, "but somehow he got word out at The Grove that the stallion got out – something about Duke and a couple of the men chasing him in that direction, and it looked like they lost him, so they woke Heath up. Heath came back here to get Nick while the men kept looking for the stallion – and then Heath was waking the whole house up here and that's about all I know."

"I hope they get the horse back all right," Nancy said, sitting down. "Is Maggie up yet?"

"Fussing with J.J., the last I checked. Heath scared the poor little kid half to death with the pounding and the yelling."

"That's not like Heath. This must be a serious situation."

"It is. Nick really wanted that stallion. They'll either find him or the won't."

"I hope they do. They'll be miserable to live with if they don't."

Victoria sipped her coffee and smiled at her pregnant daughter-in-law. "How are you feeling today?"

"Like I wish I could have this baby tomorrow," Nancy said. "It's getting hard to move around."

"How well I remember," Victoria said. "But once that baby is here, you'll forget all about feeling the size of a buffalo. All you'll be is tired."

Nancy chuckled. "Listen, while it's just the two of us here – Nick was starting to tell me something before Heath came pounding at the door. Do you know about anything that might have happened on January 1, 1880, something Nick is embarrassed about?"

Victoria searched her memory, but her face said only that she didn't know. "Nothing unusual that I can remember. But you said embarrassing?"

Nancy nodded and poured coffee for herself.

"Well, then, he'd never have told me about it," Victoria said.

"Nick said whatever happened that day was behind the reason he had to bring that prisoner up to Placerville, which is how he and I met."

Victoria smiled. "That I do remember. Before he left, he was complaining about how hard it had been for him to find the right girl to marry. And then, lo and behold, he found you."

"So he was saying," Nancy said. "But I could shoot Heath for interrupting that story."

Victoria laughed. "Don't worry. You'll be able to get Nick back to it once he gets home."

"I hope so," Nancy said. "It sounds like something I'll be able to hold over his head for the rest of our lives."

She gave Victoria a wicked smile, and Victoria laughed again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Maggie came into the dining room alone while Victoria and Nancy were finishing breakfast. Maggie looked exhausted, and half angry.

"Why in heaven's name did Heath come pounding through here before dawn even cracked?" Maggie asked, sat down and poured herself some coffee.

"Did J.J. go back to sleep?" Victoria asked.

"Finally," Maggie said. "What was the racket all about anyway?"

"The stallion got away," Nancy said.

Maggie looked stunned. "The stallion? Oh, Lord, Nick must be beside himself, but how did Heath come to find out before Nick did?"

"Apparently, Duke and a couple of the hands chased the stallion over toward The Grove and woke Heath up," Victoria said. "I suppose they were too afraid of Nick's temper to wake him up, hoped they could get the horse back before Nick noticed, and it didn't work out. Nick and Heath are both out after him now."

"Heath's probably mad they woke him up before they woke Nick," Nancy said.

"Heaven only knows," Victoria said. "They'll probably sort it all out amicably when they get the stallion back."

"I hope I can get Nick back to telling me the story about January 1," Nancy said.

"January 1?" Maggie asked as she filled her plate with eggs and ham. "What January 1?"

"January 1, 1880," Nancy said, "and I don't know because Nick never got very far into the story. I don't think he was that keen on discussing it anyway, so I don't know if he'll pick it up again."

"Did he say anything at all about it?"

Nancy smiled. "Only that it started when he and Heath went out the night before, and that it was embarrassing, especially in mixed company."

Nancy and Maggie both laughed.

"I suppose Heath knows what it was about," Victoria said. "As I recall, they spent that day together in town."

"I'll have to wriggle him back into that corner I got him into before Heath came pounding on the door," Nancy said. "I really want to know what this story is about."

"I wonder if Jarrod knew?" Maggie asked, thinking.

"Well, he was in San Francisco, so he wouldn't have been around to bail them out, so they probably didn't get arrested," Victoria said. "And if they were truly embarrassed, they never would have told Jarrod."

"Apparently it did involve the sheriff, because he sent Nick off to Placerville with that prisoner," Nancy said.

"Oh, then, well, Nick probably made a promise or two to keep himself out of jail, and the sheriff called one in when he sent him to Placerville," Victoria said.

Maggie said, "You know, I'll bet if we had enough time, we could figure this story of Nick's out all by ourselves."

"I wonder if Suzanne knows?" Nancy said.

"Would she have kept it from us?" Maggie asked.

The three women looked at each other, and in unison, just said, "Nah…"

XXXXXXX

Nick wandered back in in the afternoon, tired and still coming down off his anger. "I need a drink," was the only thing he said.

Maggie was upstairs trying to get J.J. down for a nap. Sewing in the living room, Victoria and Nancy looked up as Nick headed for the refreshment table and poured himself a shot of whiskey.

"Did you get the stallion back?" Victoria asked.

"No," Nick said angrily. "We're gonna have to track him down and catch him again, but Heath and I don't have the time for the next few days."

"How did he get loose?" Nancy asked.

Nick sighed and sat down in one of the chairs opposite the settee. "Nobody will own up to it, but somebody didn't secure him last night."

"You know, some things are meant to run free," Nancy said.

Nick looked unhappily at her. Nancy let it go and went back to her sewing.

Maggie came down with J.J. in her arms, saying, "He's just not going to go down today."

J.J. spotted his Uncle Nick and Nick grinned up at him. He quickly put his drink aside and reached up for his nephew. "He probably knew his Uncle Nick was home."

J.J. went right to Nick's arms and laughed when Nick tickled him. When Nick went to tickle him more, J.J. said, "No! No!" but laughed as he said it.

"Yes! Yes!" Nick said and tickled him again, and J.J. laughed again.

"Enough, Nick, " Maggie said and sat down in the chair beside Nick's.

"No!" J.J. said.

"Yes," his mother said calmly and sincerely.

"Mama rules," Nick said and handed J.J. back to her. Maggie put him on the floor and he began to toddle around aimlessly.

"Did you catch the stallion?" Maggie asked.

"No," Nick said, frowning.

"Oh," Maggie said. "I'm sorry."

Nancy considered saying something in particular to her husband. She wondered if Nick would be angry if she brought up January 1, 1880. Was it something he'd want to keep private? Had she overstepped the bounds when she mentioned it to her mother-in-law and sister-in-law?

Nick spotted the guilt that was coming into her eyes. "What?" he asked. "What's the matter?"

Nancy blushed. "Oh, I was just thinking about our conversation before you left, and - I got a bit embarrassed."

Nick misinterpreted. "Well, just – don't feel too bad."

Victoria decided to bail Nancy out. "Conversation about what, Nick?"

"Uh – " Nick said. "Nothing, really."

"Sounds like it was something, or Nancy wouldn't be blushing about it."

"Well, it's not something I'd want to discuss among the ladies."

Victoria smiled. "Well, now you've piqued our interest. What is it you don't want to tell your own mother?"

Nick slid down very slightly in the chair, laughing nervously. "Mother, it's not something you'd really want to hear."

Victoria kept pressing. "Would it embarrass me?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well, then, I definitely want to hear it."

Nick sighed and actually began to look around for a way out of this. But he was surrounded. His mother, Maggie and Nancy were all looking at him, expecting to hear the story.

Nick said, "It's about why I ended up going up to Placerville on that trip where Nancy and I met."

He hoped that was enough, but the women kept looking at him, and his mother actually smiled.

Nick continued uncomfortably. "I went up there taking that prisoner for Fred Madden."

"Oh?" Victoria said. "If I remember correctly, you really didn't want to go. Fred had something on you, didn't he?"

Nick opened his mouth to speak but suddenly didn't have the words. "Well, it was really Heath's fault," he finally said.

"Heath's fault," Victoria said, and it was clear she didn't believe him.

Nick pressed on. "Yes, Heath's fault. I took Fred's prisoner up because – well, the sheriff had cut me some slack on something, and I owed him."

"What did he cut you some slack on?" Victoria asked.

"That's what's Heath's fault," Nick said, straightening up a bit now that he had Heath to pin the blame on. "We went to town on New Year's Eve, remember?"

"Yes," Victoria said. "It was late in the evening on New Year's Day before you came home."

"Because Heath got me so roaring drunk the night before that I could even sit my horse the next day."

The women smirked and tried not to laugh.

"That can't be all of it," Victoria said. "That certainly wouldn't make Nancy blush."

"Nancy doesn't even know everything," Nick said. "I hadn't gotten around to telling her."

"So, what's the rest?" Victoria asked.

Nick looked from Nancy to Maggie and back again. They were just going to listen and let Victoria worm her way into getting Nick to speak up about everything. Nick began to feel like he was eight years old.

Nick sighed. "Heath and I were so drunk we decided to stay over, but we couldn't find a room, so we bedded down in the livery stable."

"And?" Victoria asked.

Nick looked around again and finally moaned. "Mother, please don't make me tell the rest of it."

"How bad could it be, Nick?" Victoria asked.

Nick asked very sheepishly, "Will you still love me after I tell it all?"

Victoria smiled. "Tell us, and I'll let you know."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _I must have the most wicked mother in California_ , Nick thought. He tried honesty. "Mother, I'm really uncomfortable talking about this."

"Well, I wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable," Victoria said, just as honestly. "If you don't want to tell us, then let it be."

"You can tell me later," Nancy said.

Nick looked at his wife, wondering if he really wanted to tell her alone, or would he be better off telling the truth now? "If I tell you later, you're going to tell everybody else, aren't you?"

"Not if you ask me not to," Nancy said, honestly.

Now Nick was starting to feel guilty for hoarding a secret, and for wanting his wife to hoard it. He got up, went to the refreshment table and poured himself more whiskey. Then he turned around to face his family. "All right, I suppose I ought to get it over with. Heath and I got roaring drunk on New Year's Eve and when we couldn't find a room in town, we bunked down in the livery stable."

The women all looked at him, waiting.

Nick went on with the story but couldn't look anyone in the eye. "Sometime during the night it seems I – started sleepwalking."

"Sleepwalking?" Victoria blurted out. "You used to do that when you were a boy, but you haven't done it lately."

"Not since I went off to the war," Nick said, "but apparently I did it again that night."

"Where did you go?" Nancy asked.

Nick sighed. "I walked over to Sheriff Madden's house and let myself in."

"That must have woken him up," Maggie said.

"He wasn't there," Nick said. "What with all the celebrating going on, he worked till sunup."

"And he found you there?" Victoria asked.

Nick nodded.

"What's so embarrassing about that?"

"Well, before he found me, he found all my clothes," Nick said.

"Your clothes?" Nancy said. "You – took off all your clothes right in his house?"

Nick nodded, beginning to blush. "Left everything – boots and all – right in the living room."

"Even underwear?"

Nick nodded again. "Underwear, too."

The women began to snicker, but Victoria picked up on something. "You left your clothes in the living room, but where did _you_ go?"

Nick took a deep breath and let it out. "I fell asleep in Fred's bed."

The women burst out laughing.

"And Fred came home at sunup and found you in your – altogether – in his bed," Victoria said, asking for him to repeat it because it was just too funny.

Nick nodded. "He got me up and back into my clothes and then Heath came looking for me, and we both spent most of the day at Fred's house trying to sober up. I only remember this whole thing like a bad dream, but Fred kept telling us what happened and wormed some promises out of me to keep the secret."

"And to keep you out of jail?" Nancy asked.

Nick nodded.

Victoria said, "I suppose you should consider yourself lucky you didn't resume your sleepwalking around town after you left your clothes in Fred's living room."

Nick moaned. "Don't think I haven't been tortured by that possibility."

The women had never really quit laughing, and Nick was blushing as red as a ripe apple. Victoria finally said, "I suppose that episode is why you haven't gotten roaring drunk since."

"I'll never get roaring drunk again," Nick said. "Anyway, it turned out beautifully, because Fred called in one of those markers when he sent me up to Placerville, and going to Placerville is how I stumbled into Nancy's home in a snowstorm." He smiled at his wife. "The best thing that ever happened to me."

Nick went over to his wife and kissed her on the forehead.

"You Barkleys do seem to come out smelling like a rose when you fall into the manure patch," Maggie said.

"I sure did," Nick said.

"I'd say we all did," Victoria said, smiling at her son and daughter-in-law. "I can't imagine this family without Nancy in it."

Nancy smiled and then looked up at her husband beside her. "Do you feel better for fessing up to all that?"

"No," Nick said flatly. Then he smiled. "Please don't tell anybody else I told you. Not even Heath."

Nancy said, "When you started this story this morning, it sounded like you had something on Heath, too."

"I do," Nick said, "but I can't tell you about it without giving up my leverage on him, and I'm not gonna do that."

The women burst out laughing again.

Nick's eyes twinkled. "You should hear about some of the stuff I had on Jarrod, and what he had on me. From when we were kids. And I milked all my information for all it was worth, and he did the same to me."

Victoria smiled. "I think we'll let you keep all that to yourself. Confessing to your being undressed in Fred Madden's bed was more than enough for one day."

"Thank you," Nick breathed.

"So, how many more markers does the sheriff have on you?" Nancy asked.

"About four," Nick said.

"Four?!"

"He milked _his_ for all it was worth," Nick said. "And he had jail to threaten me with. I didn't have any choice. But he did say we were even after Placerville."

"We won't be letting anyone know you told us, you know," Victoria said. "That's our leverage over you."

"Oh, this is getting complicated," Nick moaned. "How many markers do you ladies want?"

The women looked at each other and smiled. Nancy said, "Maybe just one a piece. You never know when we might need one."

"One each for you, and one I still owe Heath," Nick said. "I'm gonna be in debt until the day I die."

"Another incentive for you never to get roaring drunk again," Nancy said, pulled him closer to her and kissed him.

"That kiss was incentive enough," Nick said.

J.J. had made his way back to his Uncle Nick when he saw his aunt and uncle kissing. He stared up at them, then reached up, and Nick pulled him up into his arms.

"You want a marker too, little man?" Nick asked.

"No," J.J. said, and everyone laughed.

Nick gave the boy a big kiss. "We Barkley men have to stick together, J.J., or else we'll never be able to keep track of all the markers."

"Four" Nancy said. "On this story alone, you've got four."

Nick sighed toward his nephew. "J.J., we're doomed."

J.J. laughed. "No!"

The End


End file.
